Meeting Medic Man
by Ad Astra Per Alia Porci
Summary: Complete. NSR. A closer look at the introduction to Hank Nick's POV. Find out what was REALLY happening. R&R please.
1. The race begins

A/N: I already have this entire story written and I will probably add a new chapter every day until it's all up, so please stay tuned. It is seven chapters. Anyway, this is a N/S story, and is my take on the episodes in season two when Sara first meets and first dates Hank ("Bully for You" and "The Finger"). R&R please. I hope you like it.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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"Ready?" I turned to her as I prepared myself for the descent.

"I'll race you!" she shouted back over the roar of the helicopter, a flirty smile creeping past her lips. My goggles shifted slightly as a goofy grin overtook my face. I paused for a second, delighting in her attention, before leaping off the ledge.

I couldn't believe my luck when Grissom paired me up with her for this case. Sara was in fine spirits: all smiles and playful banter. I was feeling very optimistic about tonight. By all accounts it was shaping up to be a good night. Maybe I would even get the courage to ask her out before it was over…

As I touched the ground, making a quick mental note that I had beat her and to rub it in later, my mind switched into professional mode. A few months ago when the Sara thoughts had changed from friendly to the kind associated with cold showers I made a rule to only indulge myself in them when I was on my own time and not when there was work to be done. Flirting and R-rated thoughts were saved for the long rides to and from crime scenes, break time and home time.

As the first-witness gave the standard observations I crouched down to examine the bag, only half listening to what he was actually saying. I subconsciously began to listen a little more when Sara began to speak. However, it took me a minute to process her personal response to the paramedic's obvious disgust over the state of the body: "I thought you Emergency Service guys were tougher than that." Once her barb registered I watched him carefully for his response.

"Hey, I'm plenty tough!" he huffed loudly. He was obviously into her. I looked down at the bag in front of me as I felt a pang of envy course through my body.

"Down, boy. It was a joke," she replied with the same flirty smile that had been directed at me mere minutes earlier. Suddenly I wasn't feeling as optimistic as I had been during our race. I fixed a smile on my face to hide my jealousy and strode towards her to try and get her mind back to the case. I forced a chuckle as I neared her.

"Nothing like flirting over a D.B." I only glanced at her once while I made my comment, afraid she'd see the bitterness that had sparked it. Just for effect I ended with another laugh. After all, I'm Nick Stokes: ladies man. I don't get jealous, I make others jealous.

I turned back towards my opponent for the moment and gave him instructions to remove the body, hoping to remove the competition in the process. And to my credit, my not-so-subtle comments to the pair almost worked; Sara had briefly focused solely on the crime at hand as she knelt to cut off the straps on the duffle bag. However, pretty-boy had managed to grab her attention one last time before we left and they gazed stupidly at each other for a minute. I couldn't stand to watch.

I turned and smirked knowingly. He could enjoy her interest for now, but she was going away with me in the end and he would soon be forgotten. I shook my head forcefully to clear away my possessive thoughts and got ready for the ride back to the lab. The sooner I was ready, the sooner we could leave… sans medic-man.


	2. From the sounds of things

We couldn't speak much on the ride back, what with the propellers effectively blocking out most of our words, but she wore her gap-toothed grin most of the way. I felt another unfamiliar jab of spite at the thought that I may not be the person inspiring it. Once we had landed, I noticed her shedding her safety gear in a whirl wind. I watched her Tasmanian Devil imitation for a full minute before she caught me.

"What?" her cheeks tinged a slight red and I chose to believe that it was because she was flattered by my attention.

"Ants in the pants?" I asked with a smirk.

"Oh, I just thought that we, uh, should probably hurry to meet David and get started on the case… ESD is probably dropping it off about now," as her blush increased ten-fold I realized the last one had nothing to do with me.

I purposely took my time after her revelation, getting out of the gear extra carefully (AKA slowly) and stopping to chat with any of the guys that had been with us in the air lift. At first Sara tried to rush me along, but I think that after I had sought out the fourth guy with nothing relevant to say she realized what I was up to. After that she kept quiet until we reached the lab.

As we entered the coroner's office we both shifted back into working gear. It was all business until Dave had mentioned that his estimated time of death was delivered by "the sound of things."

"Sound?" Sara questioned, tilting her head adorably in an inquisitive gesture.

Dave reached over and gave the bag a little jiggle. The resulting sloshing sound turned my stomach further. "You weren't here when ESD brought this in," he spoke as he continued to create the sound.

"Oh, it wasn't from lack of trying," I cut in before I could stop myself. I heard a tiny bitter edge to my voice as I spoke poker-faced to the coroner. I prayed that neither he nor Sara had caught it. In an attempt to hide the undesirable effect her interest in another guy was having on me, I turned and smiled at Sara as soon as the line had left my mouth. I couldn't hold the smile there for long though and my face faded into what I feared was a grim expression. She tilted her head and offered a crooked smile as she watched the transformation on my face, clearly amused at what she assumed was our normal banter. I raised my eyebrows in challenge, wordlessly begging her to assure me she didn't like that loser paramedic. My sombre expression removed any pretences of the teasing quality my words normally contained. Her smile dimmed quickly as she realized that I was really bothered.

Uncomfortable by our silent exchange, Dave broke in: "Let's go to the VIP room. I'll show you what I mean." I think Sara might have momentarily forgotten that he was there because she snapped her head towards him at the sudden reminder that we were supposed to be working. I quickly walked past her, careful to not look at her.


	3. Liquid man gets a name

In the VIP room we began sorting through the bag and documenting the contents. Although we hadn't talked about anything except the case since my loaded comment, I took some solace in the fact that Sara seemed to be standing even closer than she normally did to me. As Dave unloaded the decomposition body, his belongings, and dumped the remaining 'human soup', Sara and I were in constant contact with our shoulders, especially since she kept twisting around in reaction to the horrid smell of the decomposing body. However, right after the appearance of the human soup we both became antsy and excused ourselves from the room.

After working an hour or so on our separate tasks I went in search of Sara to talk to her about what had been left unspoken before. As I approached the room that I knew she had taken the jacket to, I slowed and looked through the window, revelling in the sight of her for a brief moment. She had her head down and was meticulously scraping away at something. I steadied myself and walked through the door. "Hey, how's Liquid Man doing?" I ask, immediately reacting to the foul stench polluting the air, stinging my eyes and assaulting my nostrils. I had meant the greeting to be light and airy and just to break the ice before diving into more personal stuff but Sara pushed my selfishness out of my mind as she corrected me.

"You mean 'Mr. Cartsen'? I found this. It's a nametag." Her new lead made my Casanova state-of-mind take the back seat to CSI Stokes. I pulled on a pair of latex gloves and we began playing verbal ping-pong about the guy's name. As we were talking I absently checked the pockets of the army jacket and removed a rectangular orange object from within, emitting a squeamish groan in the process. "What do you got?" I had her full attention now.

"I don't know. I can't read an address or a phone number…" I respond as I hold it up for closer inspection. The smell seemed impossibly worse as I fiddled with the small bundle. Apparently it was the last straw for Sara, I noticed her face pale even as she attempted to spit out one last sentence.

"God, it reeks! QD should be able to, uh… to bring something up," and with that she whirled around and threw up. I watched with concerned while she turned around but respectfully averted my gaze as she emptied her stomach contents into to trash can. It was all I could do to prevent myself from running over and rubbing her back soothingly. She turned around a minute later wiping her mouth with a half-embarrassed, half-ashamed smile donning her face. "Don't tell anyone," I couldn't decide whether it was a statement or a firm question.

"'Bout what?" I spoke with a tender, low tone and a straight face to show her that she could trust me. I glanced back down at the object still in my hands for a moment before returning my gaze to her face and smiling gently. She didn't mirror the gesture this time. She just let out a frustrated grunt, looking very disgusted with herself. I was trying to think of the proper way to assure her that I thought no less of her when I heard the door.

Hank, looking fresh off the set of Top Gun, strode into the room with a dopey smile stuck on his face. Who did this guy think he was? Barging into any room without knocking first was bad enough, but to do it to a room where evidence was being processed and he had no business being near? I glanced over at Sara to see what she thought of this rude interruption. To my dismay, she was too busy mirroring his stupid smile to notice. I glanced sadly and silently from him to her as they made a brief exchange, Hank quickly backing out of the room after Sara gave him an out. Apparently he couldn't handle the stench what a baby!

"Give me a mint." Sara demanded as soon as Hank had shut the door behind him.

"You're going to need more than one," I reply through a chuckle. It was childish, I admit, but I tried to make her feel self-conscious before she went out to speak with him. I hoped that she would cut the conversation short out of fear of her breath… not that that would be a major factor considering the other aroma that had attached itself to her.

"Just give me," she snapped, not finding me amusing anymore. After she left the room I let out a long pathetic sigh. I was very tempted to steal over to the door and eavesdrop on what they were saying, but fear of being caught prevented me from moving. I briefly debated leaving the room: I didn't really want to see her happy reaction to Hank's invitation to go out. However, if I did leave right then, I'd run the risk of walking out in time to witness the even firsthand and I didn't think I'd be able to handle it.

So I lazily prodded the object from the jacket a little longer, trying to figure out what it was. After no more than five minutes Sara strolled gloomily back into the room, complete with slumped shoulders and a prominent frown. "Not go well?" I asked a little too cheery for either of our likings.

"I smell," she replied simply, scowling at me for my tone as she resumed her quest on the name tag.

"Not to me," I offered her a sheepish grin, which surprising won a faint smile in return. Ever the believer in ending on a high note, I gestured towards the door. "I'm going to drop this off at QD. I'll check in with you again later." I put the object in the proper packaging to avoid contamination and left of the room smiling.


	4. Revisiting high school

A/N: ESD stands for Emergency Service Department. Thanks for the awesome reviews! Keep them coming please.

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"…I can also tell you what I wasn't," I said pointedly to Warrick. "I wasn't a Mac Daddy wannabe we a Member's Only jacket, putting the swerve on all the ladies." Over Rick's shoulder I could see Catherine still making her coffee. She glanced back at us with a large smile as she listened to our light-hearted jokes.

"What was wrong with those Member's Only jackets? They were kind of cool back in the day," Rick defended himself straight faced. I shut the file in front of me, deciding to devote my full attention to the conversation at hand; it was much more fun. I was smirking and trying to think up some sort of retort when Sara showed up in the doorway. Figures, as soon as I finally get her out of my head…

"Hey," she said genially to the room. My smile vanished as I took her in. She looked amazing; I quickly reminded myself to close my mouth. She had changed into new clothes. Her shirt was more feminine than I was used to and I wondered whether she did it in case that tool Hank showed up again for a date. My sour thoughts quickly fluttered back. "Nick, Ronnie's got something on Liquid Man; says it's hot." I glanced over at Rick and Catherine to make sure that my bitter thoughts hadn't been too overt. I was pleased to see that neither had been paying attention to me.

"Good," I replied as I stacked and picked the files I had on the table in front of me. I jumped out of my seat and walked towards the door.

"Hey Sara, what were you in high school?" Rick decided to continue with the topic. I paused in the doorway as I passed her, leaning in over her shoulder.

She didn't even have to hesitate before her answer. "Science nerd," she had a proud smirk on her face. While she spoke I took a quick sniff of her: it was a strange combination of something uniquely Sara and obviously death.

"You changed…" I spoke normally to grab her attention. I leaned in slightly closer as I noticed the smirk had been wiped off of her face and whispered conspiratorially, "You still smell." Giving a quick exhale through my nostrils to expel some of the lingering stench trapped in my nose, I turned and strutted down the hallway. "Let's go." I called over my shoulder, not slowing down as I heard her footsteps resume a few paces behind me. I didn't need to though; she quickened her pace and soon fell into stride along beside me.

"I'd just like to point out that I'm not the only person here who smells like decomposing bodies…" Sara's comment was accompanied by a sideways glance.

"I know," I replied grinning. "I never said I didn't smell too."

"You are a cruel man, Mr. Stokes," she replied nudging me with her elbow. I was knocked off balance and banged shoulders roughly with a passing lab tech.

"Sorry," I apologized quickly shrinking under his annoyed gaze. I turned back to Sara and screwed up my face into what I hope was a stern expression, trying desperately to control an impending smile. "I'm not cruel. _That_ was cruel. I was just trying to be helpful." Sara scoffed loudly.

"How is constantly reminding me that I smell like death helping anyone?" she quirked an amused eyebrow in anticipation of my answer.

"My subtle reminders," Sara scoffed again, "make sure that you will keep your distance in case your boyfriend shows up trying to trick you into that date. Therefore, everyone wins." I say matter-of-factly as our destination comes into view. Sara twirled her hand in the air to prompt me to continue. My smile finally broke through. "I help your very manly paramedic keep his lunch," I paused to receive the expected punch in the arm. "I help you by making sure that your ego remains in check." We had reached the Ronnie's lab.

"How very noble of you," she replied sarcastically.

I continued with the last beneficiary of my good deed, "And I help myself by keeping you out of flirting distance from him."

"Nick?" she stopped in her tracks and looked at me. I studied her face for a moment looking for any sign of hope. I found confusion and shock; not exactly the reaction I was fishing for... I quickly placed a playful smile on my face.

"You two with your dopey expressions... and high school awkwardness… well, it reduces my stomach to your suitor's level." That was the truth. Watching her potentially falling for another guy did make me sick… but hopefully she would take the comment as our normal banter and assume that I was just insulting her flirting technique. It was getting hard to come up with these double entendres. I bit my lip nervously through my cheeky smile.

"Oh, I make you sick do I?" Sara smacked me in the gut with the back of her hand, giggling slightly.

"Not you individually," I replied with a wink. I reached out and pulled open the door to Ronnie's lab and reached out to guide her through with my hand resting on the small of her back.

"Good to know," she replied with a coy grin. As I followed a step behind her into the room I saw her bashful grin bloom into a deliberate smirk.

"What? What's so funny?"

"…suitor, Nicky? How old are you, eighty?" she laughed as I gave a shrug accompanied by a sheepish smile. Back to business as usual.


	5. What kind of a name is Hank?

"…I mean, I know that I told her to go out and get a life... but with a medic? Honestly. A paramedic! They're just wannabe doctors; they're even worse than dentists!" I ranted as I absently exchanged work items for home items in my locker. I glanced over my shoulder hoping to get some back up on my argument but instead found Rick and Catherine looking at each other with knowing smiles. "What?" I demanded turning around to face them completely. I waved my finger between the two a few times, "What's that look about?"

"It's just funny," I place my hands on my hips, not liking Rick's beginning. "Sorry, I didn't mean funny," he amended quickly as he took in my stance. "It's _weird_. It's weird how you develop this sudden distaste for paramedics right around the time that Sara begins to date one."

"Hey, she isn't dating him," I snapped quickly.

"Not yet," Catherine replied just as fast. "Nick, this is an easy fix. Just ask her out yourself and then she won't even start dating Hank."

"What kind of a name is Hank anyway?" I became sidetracked and I turned around to finish my task in my locker.

"There's nothing wrong with his name, ya big baby," Rick turned back to his own locker rolling his eyes. I chose to ignore his comment and continued on.

"Someone should probably warn her, I don't like the looks of him."

"I think he looked just _fine_," Catherine replied in a sultry voice. Rick laughed in response; I suddenly wish that looks could kill.

"Fine, don't take me seriously." I slammed my locker shut. "But mark my words, this guy is no good. She shouldn't be with him. She should be wit--"

"You?" Rick interrupted. I could feel a blush creep up and infuse my cheeks.

"I wasn't going to say that," I wouldn't have been so blunt, "but now that you mention it…" I offered a modest shrug. Catherine let out a throaty chuckle.

"You're pathetic," she replied shaking her head.

"Hey guys," Sara's voice echoed around the room as she appeared through the swinging locker room doors. In a chorus of greetings, the three of us responded. I put on my jacket and casually made my way to the door, hoping to escape before Catherine or Rick said anything to her about my recent rants.

"So Sara, got any plans today?" Catherine asked while eyeing me looking very amused. I stopped and waited for her response with baited breath.

"Don't I wish," she spoke wistfully. I felt the beginnings of a smile on my face.

"Want to grab some breakfast then?" Rick asked.

"Nah, I think I'm going to head home. I'm just going to take a long, lemony shower to get rid of this stench and then go to bed," she said with a sigh. I let out a long breath of my own as I tried to focus on what she was saying rather than the image her words had placed in my head. "You probably wouldn't want to eat with me anyway, no one else has today…" she whispered her conclusion.

"What do you mean?" Rick asked immediately. I shifted my weight nervously.

Sara blushed and glanced over at me quickly before responding to Rick. "Oh, I was asked out by an ESD guy today..." she trailed off.

"So Nicky's been telling us." Catherine replied smirking. I visibly winced and felt the blood rushing to my head to paint my face tomato red. Sara turned to me curiously.

"What have you been saying?" her tone was light and teasing.

"Well, you know, we were actually talking more about paramedics in general..." I fumbled, "Anyway, I need to go and get some lemons of my own. I'll see you guys tonight." I shot out of the locker room and down the hall as fast as I could without it turning into a full out run. Catherine is so dead later.

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A/N: Just in case someone out there was offended by the dentist remark, I'm terribly sorry. I have the utmost respect for dentists, especially since my father's one. It was an inside joke. Nothing meant by it. 


	6. The power of a phone call

Nothing. Blissful nothingness. Sometimes there is nothing greater than nothing. Certainly in this case; Hank had not spoken to Sara since the day the stench of death had chased him from our lovely laboratory. No visits, no calls, no contact… nothing. For three weeks.

At first Sara seemed a little put out by this; she walked around with a little less bounce in her step, feeling a little less flirty. However whatever she lacked -- according to Rick -- I more than made up for. I had made a conscious effort to be extra touchy and more overt when we flirted in the days following the introduction, and dismissal, of Hank. And it worked. She was back to herself, responding faithfully and favourably to all of my suggestive remarks. Dare I say, in the last week she's been happier than I've seen her in a long time. Hence, today was _the_ day.

I had rehearsed what to say for the last few drives to work… and I was no better for it. Half of me wanted to be very blunt, so that my intentions were very clear and she would definitely consider me for something more. However the other half, the less confident half, wanted to leave the question somewhat open so that if she turned me down I could say that she misunderstood me; I'd pretend it had only been a friendly suggestion to hang out and thus avoid her pity, my shame, and our collective awkwardness. While the latter was indeed very tempting, I had finally opted for the more confident approach. I had to know once and for all where I stood with her, with no confusion or scapegoats. Wow, I don't think I've never been this nervous about asking a girl out before.

Walking down the hallway with about ten minutes left before shift, her voice -- addressing someone else -- floated towards me. I felt my heartbeat pick up as I followed the sound to the locker room door. I stood there for a minute, trying to steel my nerves and gain control of my flight-response. I caught the tail end of a one-sided conversation.

"No, yeah, we go there all the time… the rest of the night crew and I… you know, bonding after hard shifts," Sara's giggle echoed around the empty locker-room. "Something like that, yeah." I pushed the locker door open and found her sitting on the benches in the middle of the room with her back to me. As the door shut behind me, she glanced over her shoulder. Her smile dimmed somewhat and her voice dropped lower, "That'd be perfect. I can't wait... Yup… See you then. Bye." She clicked her phone shut. She turned a little pink as she watched me stroll over to my locker.

I gave a half-hearted smile, "Making plans for after shift?" It sounded suspiciously like a date. After I popped open the lock I turned to watch her as she replied.

"Uh, in between. I'm meeting someone for lunch," her eyes darted away from me as she spoke and she brought her knees tightly up to her chest. That's not a good sign. She's nervous.

I felt as if my heart dropped into my stomach. "Old friend?" I couldn't stop myself from probing further. Please say it's an old friend.

"New one, hopefully…" her voice was quiet and she still wouldn't look at me.

I turned towards my locker to hide my wince. "Anyone I know?" I squeezed my eyes shut and stopped breathing while I waited.

"Yes," she hesitated slightly. "Y-- You remember Hank right?"

If my stomach hadn't dropped before, it had this time. I actually felt the stomach acid eating away at and dissolving my heart. I subtly reached out a hand to brace myself against the locker and nodded faintly, my back still towards her. "He, uh--" I cleared my throat to remove the waver that had crept into it, "He was the guy that called in Liquid Man, right? About three weeks ago?" My crafty reminder of how long he made her wait. She unnecessarily confirmed that I was talking about the correct guy. "So Mr. Reliable finally called, huh?" I'm such a child.

"No, uh, actually, I called him," I turned around and looked at her for a moment. She still wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Oh," my shoulders slumped. "Have you been waiting for him to phone?" Did she honestly not notice me in the last few weeks?

Finally she snapped her eyes to mine. "Waiting for _someone_ to phone. Anyone…" she spoke wistfully and broke her gaze at the last word. My mouth was probably hanging open from shock. She shrugged gently and spoke in a quite voice, "I got tired of waiting."

"So, why did you ask him then? Why not _someone_ else?" I mimicked the way she had emphasized _someone_. "What's so special about him?" Bitterness was evident in my words.

"Well, he's kind of funny…" she started her list.

"Looking," I muttered under my breath.

She glared at me, "I find him very attractive!"

I tried to mask my frown, "If you're into that sort of thing…"

"He's sensitive." She spoke more firmly.

"Well, at least we know his stomach is…" I quipped just as firm.

"He's smart, sweet, caring," she started listing his qualities faster and louder. I could swear she was _trying_ to rip my heart out.

"You've met him, what, once?" my tone was incredulous.

"He saves peoples lives, Nick. He obviously cares about people, even if he doesn't know them; he's a public servant."

"So am I!" I shouted a little too vehemently. I took a deep breath and pressed forward quickly, "And Warrick and Greg and Bass…" I wasn't about to say Grissom, that would only dig me deeper, "…but you didn't phone any of us!"

"Fine. You want to know why? Because he asked me out! He was interested in me! I knew that he would say yes because I _know_ that he likes me." She folded her arms across her chest and stared at me pointedly, almost challenging me to counter that point. I opened my mouth to protest, I'M INTERESTED TOO, but my voice got caught in my throat. "Exactly," she sounded sad as she made her way to the locker room door.

"Greg's asked you out too," I replied lamely, desperate to say anything. With one final, remorseful glance my way she headed out. The door shut with a resounding thud.


	7. Think its too late?

A/N: Hey, sorry for my delay. Initially I was just writing this story as a back plot to the two episodes, and I wasn't going to have Nick and Sara get together because… well, they don't in the episodes. However, since those of you kind enough to respond and urge me to continue seem to want it, I'm currently rewriting the ending. Thus I will be a bit longer than anticipated to finish it. Thank you so much for your reviews and patience. I hope you like the story so far. I'm almost done… just a few more chapters.

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"…so I dunno if she knows and was trying to test me or if that was actually why she called him…" I trailed off feeling mighty pathetic under the analytic gazes of Cath and Rick. We were driving back from a call, which had turned out to be nothing, with at least half of shift left. I was the driver, with Catherine up front and Rick studying me from the backseat.

"I'm going with the former," Catherine looked at me with mild pity. "Nicky, why didn't you say anything?" I shook my head miserably.

"I tried… I just… couldn't." I let out a frustrated sigh. "So you think she knows?"

Catherine glanced over her shoulder at Rick and spoke with a smirk, "I'm fairly certain." Oh, good grief. He had better not have said anything to Sara.

"Why is that, Rick?" I shot a glare off the rear-view mirror and towards my friend in the backseat. He cleared his throat and his eyes became shifty.

"Someone _may_ have accidentally alluded to the fact that you've had your eye on Sara for a while…" he spoke cautiously.

"You didn't, man. Did you?" I stared at him stupidly through the mirror.

"Nick! The road!" Catherine reminded just as I began to swerve towards another lane. I quickly straightened the vehicle. "Maybe I should drive…" she muttered.

"Well? Did you?" I repeated louder, completely ignoring Catherine's comment.

"If I said yes… how mad would you be?" I groaned. "Hypothetically speaking, of course," Rick quickly added to his question.

"Just… tell me what you said," I replied resignedly.

"First, I would just like to point out that I am your best friend, we have a witness present, and that anything I may or may not have done was done out of love," he reminded, earning a deep laugh from Catherine.

"Thanks, bro." My tone was decidedly sardonic.

"Okay, well it started off looking pretty good for you. While we were working that case last week--"

I cut him off, "She's known for a week! Why didn't you warn me!" My brows furrowed and I clenched my jaw, shooting daggers in his direction. My hands were gripping the wheel so tightly that my knuckles had turned white.

"I thought you'd get mad at me!" he defended, raising his arms in surrender. I watched him study my body language for a minute before deciding to be a smart-ass. "Clearly I was mistaken." A growl escaped my throat and he moved on quickly. "So, last week: she asked if you were dating anyone that she didn't know about. I replied that you hadn't seen anyone in a looooong while," I grunted lowly. "I know, I wasn't thinking. But I meant it as reassurance that if anyone… special… should come into… your life in the… near future, that it wouldn't be a rebound fling." Rick chose his words carefully. We arrived at a red light and I momentarily rested my head on the steering wheel in between my hands.

"Keep going," I sighed into the hidden airbag.

"Right. So then, she asks me why you haven't been seeing anyone… and I subtly suggested that you had found someone that you were really interested in and were just waiting for the opportune moment to ask her out." Beside me Catherine burst out laughing; I looked at her quizzically. She turned in her seat to face Rick.

"Subtle my ass! You told her that Nick had fallen for someone at work and that he was too chicken to ask her out in case it got awkward!" She momentarily paused and pointed out the windshield. "Nicky, green." I turned my attention back to the road.

"I didn't tell her it was her though!" Rick defended indignantly.

"What else did he say, Cath?" I decided she was more reliable for the rest.

"Just that you would probably need a good push to get you to do something…" she said with a wink. Then she repeated her question from earlier. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Think it's too late?"

"Had you listened to me last year…" I heard Rick mutter behind me.

"Hey, quiet in the peanut gallery!" I barked at him.

"I'm pretty sure you're not too late," Cath grabbed my attention. "As long as you do something _now_," she emphasized loudly, "_Before_ anything develops with this new guy. You just have to hope that she has a lousy date." She spoke the last part with a wink, and I'm pretty sure she was kidding. Still, my stomach flopped over at the thought that Hank might be serious competition.

"If you know where she's going we could crash it," Rick piped up again, excitement evident in his voice. "We haven't taken our breaks yet…"

I perked up slightly, "Yea. You know I bet we could even get Greg to come alo--"

"No!" Cath interrupted before I could even finish. "You are not going to intrude on her date!" She scolded firmly.

"Why not?" Rick's whine sounded like a two-year old being told not to have candy before his supper. A glance in the rear view mirror showed a look on his face to match his tone. I laughed softly as I pulled into the lab's lot.

"Because if you ruin her date and he takes it with grace, then not only will he gain the points that you've lost but he'll win an automatic second date as well," she snapped quickly. I stopped laughing. She turned towards me and pointed an accusing finger to elaborate on her point, "And if you're afraid her now… just wait until after you've ruined one of her dates." I felt a sheepish smile creep across my face as I turned off the engine.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," Rick quoted faithfully as we climbed out of the vehicle.

"Thanks Grissom," I replied mockingly with a slap on Rick's back.

"Well, he wasn't here… someone had to say it," he replied with a cheesy grin and then headed towards the building chuckling to himself. Catherine and I sauntered towards the building at a slower pace.

"I never knew it could hurt this much to lose someone I never had in the first place," I replied kicking at a stone on the walkway.

"Aww, Nicky." She cooed as if I had just said I had a tummy ache.

"You know what bothers me most?" I continued. Cath unnecessarily shook her head in answer. "They're going to the diner. _The_ diner!" I elaborated when I saw her blank expression. "They're meeting at the diner that we always go to after shift. Isn't that against the rules or something!"

Catherine openly laughed at me. "What rules? I didn't know that there was a Jealousy Handbook out there somewhere…" I looked at her sideways, openly showing my annoyance.

"I'm not jealous," I protested loudly as her laughter increased. "I'm not-- I just-- It bothers me tha--" I couldn't think while she was laughing at me. As we entered the building I paused and waited for her giggles to die down before continuing. "Cath, what if they sit in OUR booth?" I asked quietly so no one will overhear the fearful tone I'm using. "What if he takes my spot?" My voice during the last part was so quiet I wasn't even sure she heard me. I wasn't thinking about the physical spot anymore. Catherine reached out and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, her arm and elbow resting down my back.

Squeezing my shoulder as she spoke Cath replied, "Sara knows that that's where you belong. I'm sure she won't let him take it."

"I wasn't talking about the booth," I admitted in the same low tone.

"Neither was I," she whispered back. A smile stole across my face. I was going to reply but as I opened my mouth another voice cut me off.

"Catherine," Grissom came striding around the corner towards us. "Come with me; Brass wants us at the station. Some guy was pulled over for speeding and he had a briefcase of cash and bloody hands…"

"Alright," she replied with a long exhale. She gave my shoulder one last squeeze before she dropped her hand and turned to leave with Grissom.

"Hey Griss," he turned to face me, "Where's Sara?" I tried to keep from sounding too interested.

"She's on her break… She left a couple of minutes before you guys returned," he supplied. "But she's done her case anyway. So you and Warrick have some free time because there aren't any other cases. I suggest you guys take your lunch now while it's slow around here." He turned and waddled down the hallway towards the exit.

Catherine smiled sympathetically and then turned and followed Grissom. I felt my body deflate. It was going to take every ounce of my strength not to run down to that diner… I rubbed my right hand down the side of my face and slunk through the halls in the direction of the DNA lab; maybe Greg's antics would take my mind off Sara for a bit.


	8. Focus on Catherine

Rick and I sat idly in the break room, sipping coffee and throwing out situation after situation that would lead Cath to get into the car with a suspect. It didn't make sense. The best bet was that he had pulled a gun and forced her to drive him somewhere… but that didn't really make sense either. Why choose someone that he knew was connected with LVPD? For nearly forty minutes, since Grissom had returned to the lab and told us she was missing, Rick and I had done nothing but think up circumstances that would make her get into that car without her weapon or phone. I initially wanted nothing more than to go out and find her but Griss said that we had to wait for a crime first… now I wanted nothing more than to avoid going out and finding her.

When I saw Sara walking down the hall towards us, a smile immediately replaced the frown on my face. I stood up and walked towards her, not really thinking. "Hey. Back already? Bad date?" I asked, wincing internally as I heard the needy hope ring out in my question. She didn't slow down at all, marching determinedly past me, her expression remained grim. I took that for a yes; although, suddenly I wasn't so happy about it. I immediately jogged back to her side and fell into pace with her. Now, I was worried that maybe Hank had tried something… "What happened?" This time my voice was concerned. Hearing footsteps I glanced over my shoulder and saw Rick jog to catch up with us.

"Catherine came by," she spoke with a frown. I looked back at Warrick once more, a relieved smile spreading across his face.

"You saw Catherine!" Warrick exclaimed before I had the chance. "Thank God! She's okay right? Where is she?" He scanned the halls behind us in search of her.

"I don't know… she walked into the diner and completely ignored me -- I wasn't even sure that she saw me at first. She sat down at the counter with some guy, talking politely, and I figured she was just out on her break and I returned to mine. I didn't think that anything was wrong until she got up to leave a few minutes later; she dropped a severed finger in a cup on my table." Her tone was annoyed at the last bit.

"I bet Hank loved that. Did he manage to keep his lunch?" I'm such an ass sometimes, but I couldn't help it. Sara glared at me but didn't answer. I fall back a pace to walk beside Rick instead; he gave me a hard jab in the side and a stern look. "Sorry," I muttered ashamedly, my mind refocusing on Cath's disappearance. "Catherine didn't say anything?"

"She barely made eye contact with me. She dropped the finger on the table and walked out." Sara replied. As we rounded another corner, Grissom walked out of a room and joined us, strolling casually alongside Sara with Rick and I paired behind them.

"Where is it?" Griss jumped right into the conversation without missing a beat. They began talking specifics about the chopped digit, Sara using her own finger as an example to demonstrate where it was severed. I listened half-heartedly to the specifics, glancing around the lab as we walked. When I met Rick's eyes half-way down one of the hallways, he was giving me a 'what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you' look. I gave him a pitiful one in return and quickly looked away.

Sara spoke my name and I pulled my attention back to the conversation. "And her behaviour toward Logan?" Griss asked, "Was she under duress? Agitated?"

"No…" Sara considered with a slight shake of her head. "No, looked to me like Catherine was running the show." She stopped a few feet short of Grissom's office and Rick and I followed her lead.

"A severed finger, a million bucks, and Catherine's not allowed to talk to anyone…" Griss recounted the main points thus far.

"Kidnapping?" I piped up for the first time since Griss joined us.

Rick continued with my reasoning, "So who's worth one mil?"

"It's time to speak to his wife," Griss said and continued towards his office.

"I'll call Brass," I reached into my pocket and pulled out my cell phone.

"It's a bit of a coincidence, though, don't you think?" While she was speaking I pulled out the antennae on my phone and flipped it open. I looked up at her, "Catherine just showing up at the diner." I quickly lowered my head as I realized what she was getting at. I fiddled with the buttons, finding Brass on the speed dial. "It's not like she knew I was going to be there." Sara finished quickly.

I swallowed hard and glanced up at Rick awkwardly. He was watching me with a knowing look. I switched my attention back to Sara, trying to figure out a vague way to say that I had been complaining all morning to Catherine that Sara was going on the date with Hank. "I knew." I admitted with a confirming nod of my head. I quickly placed the cell phone to my ear and walked away before she had a chance to respond. Could I be anymore obvious? She could fill in the blanks herself… or I'm sure Rick wouldn't mind "helping" me some more…

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A/N: Okay, I've already started the next chapter, and I promise that they get together, FINALLY, in that one. I'm sorry for the delay, but thanks for sticking with me. I have my lastuni exams this week, so I'll post the next chapteron Friday!Thanks for the awesome reviews. Keep them up please! 


	9. Moment of truth

"Good call, partner," Sara teased when she walked in and saw me going through my locker. I looked at her over my shoulder as she sauntered closer. "'Yeah, and he's probably long gone by now.'" she lowered her voice and attempted a Texan twang for her imitation. She quickly dissolved into giggles.

"Yup. Timing hasn't been my strongest suit today." I spoke with a wry smile and turned to face her. I sat down on the bench, abandoning my locker search. She joined me, patting my knee in a fake display of comfort and sympathy.

"Well, I think it's entertaining when your words come back to bite you in the ass," she smiled broadly at me, her hand resting absently on my knee.

I had decided earlier to follow through with my initial plan from this morning. I was going to ask her out once and for all; today was _the_ day. But first I just had to find out what kind of competition Hank was: "Speaking of pains in my ass…" I smiled for a second at my own joke before sobering and continuing on so she'd understand. "How was your date?"

She frowned slightly at my seg-way. "Well, it definitely couldn't be considered a success; it ended with a severed finger…" she trailed off, finding the situation a little more amusing now that it wasn't so fresh.

I nodded, staring straight ahead as I decided to push a little further. "So since Catherine crashed it, does that mean the medic gets an automatic second date?"

Out of the corner of my eye I could see her studying me. I wasn't sure if it was intentional, but she started to flex and move her fingers on my leg making invisible patterns. She glanced down at her hand, "Can you think of any reasons why he shouldn't?" She suddenly seemed to realize that she was stroking my knee and started to take her hand back. I quickly snatched it with both of mine while it was still hovering over my leg. She looked up at me, surprise clearly written across her face; I guess she wasn't expecting me to take the bait. She already knows, what's the harm in telling her myself?

"I can think of a million, but they probably can't be trusted. I'm a little bias on the subject." I swallowed and shifted on the bench so that I faced her directly. My left leg was still resting on the floor but my right one was bent to form a triangle over top of the bench. I smiled shyly and added, "But then again, you already knew that."

"I know a lot of things; could you be a little more specific?" she asked sweetly, trying to hide a smile. I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Sure. What do you want to hear: why I'm bias or the reasons why you shouldn't date that guy?" I asked looking around the locker room, feeling very self-conscious.

"Well let's start with why you're bias, and if we still need to after that, you can tell me why I shouldn't date _Hank_." She emphasized his name, seeing that I wouldn't use it. Then she squeezed my hand to bring my attention back to her.

"Alright," I cleared my throat and looked her in the eye. No BS this time. "I'm bias because I'm completely crazy about you." My twang got a little thicker as I made my declaration and a smile spread across my face. It was a relieved smile, knowing that no matter how she reacted I had finally been able to tell her how I feel. I paused to watch her response; a tiny part of me was hoping that she would be mortified and run from the room, so I wouldn't have to continue. I hate talking about this stuff. However, the smile that she finally let out was extremely encouraging. I pulled her hand closer and placed in on my chest above my heart in what I hoped was a sincere gesture. "I'm not sure when it happened but I think I've wanted something more than friendship between us for a long while." I paused once more to let her speak.

"So why didn't you say something sooner?" she asked quietly, looking down at the bench in embarrassment. I forced my eyes on her face so that I could catch her eye when she looked up again.

"It's not that easy to put your heart out on the line. I didn't say anything because we're friends, and co-workers, and if I make a fool out of myself with this belated confession I can't avoid you… nor do I want to." She was still avoiding my eyes. I removed one hand from hers and reached across the distance to cup her cheek and raise her head to look me in the eye. I felt her lean into my palm and I smiled a little more before continuing. "Sara, being with you, even when we're doing absolutely nothing, means everything to me. I didn't tell you how I felt because that way even if we would never be anything more, we wouldn't be anything less either; I would still have you in my life as a friend. And when it comes down to it, I'll take you anyway I can get you… I want more, but I'll take friends over nothing. So the ball's in your court and you can mmph--" I started to offer her as much time as she needed to decide what she wanted but was cut off as she suddenly rocked forward and pressed her lips to mine.


	10. Finding the comfort zone

A/N: So, I have two more chapters planned and that's the end. I promise this time. Two more and I'm done. I'm also trying for more timely updates. Thanks againfor your patience and for the great reviews.

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The world melted away as I closed my eyes. The only sound I could hear was her heavy breathing -- I had apparently stopped that altogether -- and the pounding of my own heart. As my hand slid into her hair and my other worked its way around her waist to bring her into my lap my brain malfunctioned. Her silky hair encased my fingers, her soft lips slid perfectly around my own, one of her hands stroked my face while the other tugged gently at the hairs at the nape of my neck, her hot breath hit my face, her body pressed up against mine… nothing else could register. Every idea, every fear, absolutely everything slipped slowly from my mind until there was nothing left except us. At that moment, the past didn't exist and the future would never come; all that mattered was right then and right then all that mattered was Sara. And she wanted me.

I'm embarrassed to say that I let out a pathetic whimper as she began to pull away hesitantly after what I'm going to assume was a couple of minutes… I honestly had lost all concept of time. I felt a ridiculous smile cross my features and I opened my eyes quickly, eager to find hers. She remained hovering a few inches away from me, her head still tilted towards my mouth and her eyes lightly closed. It took her another few seconds before her eyelids fluttered open and she focused on me, a contented smile dividing her face. She leaned forward and placed her forehead to mine and closed her eyes again for a couple of seconds and waited until her breathing returned to normal. "A million and one," I managed to breathe out in a low voice.

"On a scale of one to ten?" she replied with a smirk, her pitch was noticeably huskier. I was glad that we were able to slip back into our normal rhythm and it wasn't awkward. I felt more comfortable around her now than I had in a while. I didn't have to hide anything anymore; there were no more secrets. I felt completely relaxed with her in my arms and suddenly very energetic. I was on top of the world.

"That too," I chuckled softly. "But I was still counting the reasons not to date the medic… that kiss completely counts as a reason!" I paused for a minute and reflected; that kiss really did rate a million and one on a ten point scale. "No. I think it should count for at least twenty. So, that's one million twenty reasons why you shouldn't date Hank."

"Hmm, a million twenty, huh?" she squished her lips off to one side, eyes roaming the indents on the paneled ceiling, and leaned a few inches farther away to assume a ponderous position. "I guess I shouldn't date him then…" she trailed off with a large grin as she focused on me again.

"Seems like the best route," I faintly nodded and attempted to match her playful tone. "Oh, but wait!" I exclaimed softly as if something had just occurred to me. "That means that you won't have anyone to take you out tonight!"

"Oh no! You're right!" she played along, moving closer and dramatically flopping her head down on to my shoulder. "What am I going to do!"

"Well…" I voiced after a moments pause, "I _suppose_ I could take you out…" The suggestion came out as if it were a brand new and almost unwelcome one. I tried to force a neutral expression but there was no turning down the wattage of my goofy grin. I was sure that would be a permanent part of my appearance for at least the next two weeks.

"I _guess_ you could…" she kissed my neck lightly and a pleasant shiver shot down my spine. I shifted her so that we were face to face again.

"Good." This time my tone was serious. We sat there gazing stupidly at each other until my wrist watch beeped twice to sound the new hour. We were both brought out of our daze and flushed slightly; it was going to take some time to get used to the fact that I could overtly study her features rather than watch her from the corner of my eye. I moved my hand so that only the fingers were still drowning in her hair, leaving the palm and thumb up against her cheek gently. "We should probably head home now…" I spoke quietly. God knows I didn't actually want to leave, but I had to if I was planning on remaining conscious for dinner later.

Sara simply nodded in agreement and pulled herself off my lap. I was immediately chilled as I lost the heat from her body and quickly clambered to my feet after her and pulled her against me once more for another lingering kiss. When I finally pulled away -- once again, as far as time goes, your guess is as mine -- she cleared her throat and confirmed plans. "So what did you have in mind for tonight?" she asked with a contradictory smile that only she could pull off: half innocent, half seductive. I chuckled appreciatively.

"I'm a little afraid to answer that," I replied honestly. She had completely set me up for a dirty answer, but I knew better than to speak it out loud. She smiled a little wider in response.

"Smart man." She stepped away from me and headed towards her locker and began swapping work items for home items.

"I like to think so," I smirked and watched her pull at her stuff, reclaiming my seat on the bench. "Do you have tonight off?"

"Nope. My free night isn't for another few days," I frowned, not bothering to hide it from her. "Why? Do you have tonight off?"

"No," I gave her my most charming smile, "But I'm more than happy to play hooky if it means more time to spend with you…" I was very proud as a crimson tinge settled into her cheeks.

"Look at you, suddenly all smooth and suave," she giggled lightly.

"Suddenly?" I stood up, puffed out my chest, and strolled towards her. I slowed my speech and thickened my accent as I advanced, adding a tip of an imaginary Stetson with a wink for effect. "Ma'am I'll have you know that Texans are born suave." I leaned casually against the side of her locker.

"So I guess you weren't born a Texan then, huh?" she quipped. She grabbed her jacket and turned to face me, closing the locker door behind her blindly.

"Ouch." I pouted, clutching at my heart. "Words hurt, Sara."

"Sticks and stones, cowboy. Suck it up." She smiled and sauntered towards the door. She paused before exiting and her confident air faltered briefly, "So… tonight…?" I love that I make her nervous.

"Yes. Tonight." I chewed my lower lip thoughtfully for a minute; not the best plan since I could still taste some of Sara's coffee there. I forgot what I was saying as my mind replayed the last ten minutes. She cleared her throat and watched me expectantly. "Right." Boy, do I feel like an ass right now. "Tonight I was thinking we could just hang out… be casual, you know?" I turned around and resumed the exchange with my locker.

"Slow and steady, eh?" I smiled and glanced over my shoulder at her as I identified the disappointment that had laced her cliché.

"No." I shook my head adamantly, "Personally, I think two years is slow enough. However, we don't have a lot of free time tonight and I know that we're both going to be tired because there aren't enough hours between now and then to get the doctor-approved amount of sleep. So, just for tonight, casual. We'll get something to eat, watch some TV or go shopping or something…" She nodded approvingly. "However, I would like to take you out, for real, this weekend?" I'm not sure why that turned into a question. I meant for it to come out sounding more self-assured; I hear girls like that.

"I'd like that too," she looked down at the floor nervously. She's so cute when she's acting shy.

"Good. That's good." I repeated dumbly. "So I'll give you a call later on, okay? A few hours before shift?"

"Perfect," she replied, "See you later, Nick." I love the way she says my name.

"Sleep tight, Sara." I replied as she disappeared through the doors. I restrained myself for a full thirty seconds -- yes, I _am_ proud -- before pumping my arms through the air and whooping in a lame parody of a victory dance.

Life. Is. Good.


	11. What was that?

A/N: Since these silly author notes appear to be making a liar out of me, this is my last one ever. One more chapter after this, and many more throughout the summer once I get enough time to write them all out… stay tuned. Thanks for your time and the great reviews. I really appreciate them.

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I turned down the radio as I dialled hit her number on my speed dial. "Hey, what took you so long?" Sara offered as a greeting as she finally picked up after five rings. I could hear her smile.

"Yea, sorry. I slept later than I meant too," I apologized guiltily. It had taken me a lot longer to fall asleep than I had anticipated --apparently excitement overrides exhaustion-- so when my alarm went off I tried to buy a few extra minutes of sleep… but the fifteen minute snooze somehow stretched into a good forty-five minutes. Add in time for showering and the customary preening that precedes any visit with the lovely Ms. Sidle and that left us with a little over two hours before shift. "Did you know that your house line is off the hook?" When she hadn't answered her phone I had gone straight to the car, worried about her. I didn't want to call her cell because to me they represented work and tonight I wanted to leave work behind. Even if this was supposed to be a casual night I wanted to call her at home, pick her up at her door, and give her flowers like I would any other date. It wasn't until I had almost reached her street that I had finally given in and dialled her cell number.

"Oh, uhhh, yeah… I had, ahhh… some telemarketers phoning while I was trying to sleep so I just left the phone off. I figured it was fine since you normally call my cell anyway." Her hesitance meant that she was withholding something -- she was never very good at lying to me -- but I decided to let it pass for the moment.

"So are you ready to go?" I asked, sounding overly eager again. I couldn't wait to see her. I had trouble waiting for the full 3-second pause at the stop sign just before her building.

"That depends on where we're going…"

"Well, I had planned on renting a movie… but since 'Stokes' is antonymous with 'punctual' we've missed that window. So I was thinking that we could just cruise the Strip for a while?" There's always something crazy happening on the Strip.

"Sure... And then yes, I am ready. How long will it take for you to get here?"

"When do you want me there?" I asked as I pulled into her apartment complex and silenced the engine.

"An hour ago," she responded immediately. I unbuckled my seatbelt and reached for the flowers on the seat beside me. I got out and closed the door softly so she wouldn't hear it through the phone and began to jog towards her building, careful not to let it show in my voice.

"Sorry," I blushed guiltily. I wanted to be there an hour ago too. "Maybe a slightly more reasonable time?" I reached the door just as it was about to close after a woman a few feet ahead of me. I grabbed it just before it clicked shut and smiled proudly. I wouldn't even need her to buzz me up.

"Fine," she feigned exasperation and then laughed. "ASAP please." I continued my quickened pace across the lobby.

"That's more like it," I made it to the elevators and managed to slip in just as they began to close. "I'll be there in thirty," …seconds. I smiled wider at my wit.

"See you then," she replied.

"Bye." I flipped my phone shut just as the elevator doors did the same. I reached over and punched the button for the third floor.

As soon as the doors sprung open to reveal her floor I jumped out and sped over to her door, knocking soundly before my nerves got a chance to catch up. As I waited for her I ran my hand nervously down the front of my shirt to smooth out the invisible wrinkles. At the sound of her feet padding towards the door I did a quick breath check with one hand and hid the bouquet of flowers behind my back with the other.

"Hey," she greeted me in surprise. The gap in her teeth were proudly displayed in a large smile as I whipped my hand around to the front of me to offer her flowers. "Oh Nick, you didn't have to do that," she said as she accepted them and promptly buried her nose between some pedals.

"Of course I did; I was late," I replied as she stepped aside to let me inside. Suddenly I was taken capture by my nerves and insecurities. Do I lean in and kiss her? Are we at that point yet? I certainly would like to get into the pattern of kissing her… Are the lips too forward even if there's no tongue? Cheek? Maybe cheek's the best bet for now.

After a quick peck on her left cheek I took a step back to gage her reaction; I wasn't pleased. "What was that?" her voice bounced between her giggles.

Shit! I felt my face flare red and averted my eyes as I racked my brain for one of those suave Texan lines from earlier... nothing. They're a lot harder to come up with her openly laughing at me. "Oh… I just, ah -- well, you know – it…?" I trailed off with an embarrassing squeak. I finally looked over at her helplessly and offered a weak shrug.

"Aw," she said, still chuckling slightly. "I didn't mean to embarrass you." She blindly placed the bouquet on top of a small table a few feet away and stepped towards me, cupping my face affectionately. "I just thought that we weren't going to take this slow…" she offered as an explanation for her untimely amusement.

"We're not." I spoke quickly. "…unless you want to…" I added as an afterthought. Sara just shook her head. She had quieted her giggles but her smile and the glint in her eyes let me know she wasn't quite done laughing at me yet. I reached out and placed my hands on her waist, stroking the right one with my left thumb. "I wasn't really sure what to do…" I turned my head slightly from side to side and let my eyes dart around the room as if in search of eavesdroppers. Then I dropped my voice to a conspiratorial whisper and leaned in closer, "I'm a little nervous." I confided with a wink.

"Good," she whispered back, "me too."

"Good," I repeated. I removed my hands from her waist and placed them over top of hers, which were still residing on the sides of my face. After a beat I gently swept them away, giving each palm a departing kiss. "Think I could try again?" I asked with a wide smile as I caressed her hands in mine.

"Just this once," she grinned brighter. I dropped her hands and headed back through the door and into the hall. As I was just about to close her door behind me, her amused voice added a warning: "better make it a good one, Stokes." I didn't bother responding. I just pulled the door shut, counted three Mississippi's, and knocked again. The door swung open easily, revealing a very smug Sara Sidle. "Hey," she reused her original welcome. She glanced down at my hands and then back to my face, smirking. "What? No flowers?" I just rolled my eyes, reached out and pulled her towards me. She stumbled slightly but my arms were wrapped around her quickly enough that it didn't matter. I brought our lips together and received the same rush as before. I will never get tired of kissing her.

When I finally stepped away, I kept my hands on her waist. "So…" I cleared some of the huskiness from my throat, "Better?"

"Much," she purred and slid her hands away from their place around my neck, down to my stomach and around my waist for a hug which I gladly returned. "But you still lose some points for coming empty-handed." I let out a sigh in mock frustration. She peeled back to look at me with her pleased smirk and kissed the tip of my nose. I wrinkled my nose at the odd sensation... and to appear manlier… boys don't like butterfly kisses, you know.

"I'll make up for it later," I promised stepped out of her embrace. "I'll buy you something pretty on the Strip."

"You're on!" she squealed excitedly. She quickly deposited my flowers in a vase of water, grabbed her jacket and then we went out for the first time as a couple, our fingers laced together proudly.


	12. You have a tell

A/N: Last one, I promise. I have excuses coming out the wazoo about why I didn't do any updating this summer, but I will spare you and just apologize to anyone who was actually reading this. I'm sorry. Thanks for sticking with me. Now, since I was such a tool I expanded this story into a few chapters so as to make it flow better… the original one chapter ending was a bit of a cop-out anyway. So I'm adding them all at once in hopes of making amends. I'm never adding another story to this site without it being complete ahead of time. That way long update waits can be avoided. Once more, thanks for following my little story and I hope you enjoy it. Let me know at the end, either way. Praise and criticism are both welcomed.

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"Watch this side; you're dripping!" I exclaimed as I lifted our joined hands to point at the cone Sara held in her free one. She quickly twisted the cone around, spotted the sneaky glob of ice-cream attempting to escape and dipped her head to catch it with her tongue. As she straightened up again, satisfied that that side of the cone was secured for now, I choked on my own mouthful of vanilla. Sara had managed to get ice-cream on the tip of her nose during her last manoeuvre. "Hang on," I spoke after I had managed to swallow my treat. I tugged on her hand to signal for her to pause for a moment and shifted the rest of my ice-cream and a bag of random merchandise to our joined hands so that I could wipe it off her face. I used my thumb to gently remove the cold drop and held it up to show her. She flashed an embarrassed grin.

I thought for a moment about popping the finger into my own mouth or, better yet, trying to get her to lick it off, but then I remembered all the stuff I had touched in the last store we had gone into. I shuddered slightly as I thought of all the germs plaguing my thumb and wiped it clean on the napkin surrounding my cone. I shifted some stuff back to my free hand and we continued on. "Anywhere else you want to stop?" I asked, tipping my wrist slightly to consult my watch but being careful not to spill my ice-cream.

"How much time do we have left?" she asked leaning closer into my side to peer at my watch as well. I noted with some pride that she didn't return to her initial distance after she had seen the time.

"We can stop at one more spot, I think. Maybe two, but we'll be pushing it." I wanted to show up to work on time. While it wasn't actually important to me, as we already established I'm not exactly known for my punctuality, Sara was always there on time… actually she was pretty much always there, regardless of time. "Hey," I voiced suddenly, "How is this going to work at the lab?" The question had nagged me a few times throughout the night, but I had delayed asking it so that I could prolong the wonderful simplicity that came from being with her. Hmm. That didn't come out quite right. I mean that when I'm with Sara everything else in the world becomes easier to take on. Happiness comes naturally. Just being becomes simpler. That still sounds a bit shady, but trust me, I mean it in the best possible way.

"What do you mean?" she asked as she began guiding me. I assumed that she had decided on the last place to visit and complied easily. I had finally made it to the cone of my ice-cream and tossed it away. Those plain cones taste like Styrofoam.

"Our relationship. Do we announce it to the others right away and get it over with? Or do you want to be more discreet? Or hide it all together?" I began listing the options, looking over at her feeling slightly worried. There was no way the last two would work for me. I wouldn't be able to hide my affection anymore than I could lessen the goofy grin that had decided to take over my face for the foreseeable future.

"Well, a formal announcement seems a little silly… and honestly, I hate talking about this stuff as much as you do. Let's just be ourselves, however feels right, and hopefully they'll each ask subtly and separately and we can let them know that way. Avoid all the fuss?" she suggested carefully. I agreed and leaned over to kiss the side of her forehead as she continued leading me down the street.

"So, time for the second question that I've been meaning to ask all night: why was your phone off the hook?" I watched her reaction intently as she swallowed her mouthful of vanilla and tried to compose an answer.

"The telemarketers kept phoning. I kept telling them that…" I ignored her words as I noticed the skin between her bottom lip and her chin quiver. She was lying.

"Okay," I cut her off in mid-babble, "How about the _real _reason?"

"What makes you think--"

"You have a tell," I replied before she finished her question. "And no; I'm not going to say what it is because then you'll be able to hide it." She pouted in response. "So why was your phone off the hook?" I persisted.

"I was trying to avoid a couple of phone calls. No big deal," she shrugged, acting nonchalant. _Acting_ being the key word.

"You're lying again," my matter-of-fact tone left no room for debate. Her lip had clearly twitched when she said "no big deal."

"This isn't fair. What is it? Do I blink my eyes? Oh. I scrunch my nose, don't I?" she brought her hand holding the ice-cream up to her face and held her wrist lightly against the bridge of her nose to feel for any ticks. "I love to eat rare steaks. Orlando Bloom is a good actor. Crime really does pay. Tom and Katie are in love." I chuckled appreciatively as she listed off as many outrageous lies as she could think of while moving her wrist to different areas of her features in search of her tell.

"You know, this'd be a lot easier if you'd just tell me the truth." I felt my lips squish off to the side of my mouth in a smart-ass smirk.

"It'd also be easier if you just told me what gives me away," she feigned annoyance as she continued to prod at her features. "Is this how you always beat me at poker?"

"Sara," I stopped walking again, quickly becoming concerned. "Please. Who phoned?" I hated the pleading quality in my voice. I sounded so weak and whiny; most of which was because of the scenarios that had started flashing through my mind at her first attempt to side-step the conversation. All the worst possible reasons why Sara wouldn't want me to know who phoned kept surfacing in my brain. I was feeling very insecure.

She lowered her hand away from her face. "Hank," she admitted not looking at me and without a single facial quiver. That had been one of the scenarios.


	13. Some kind of masochist

"Hank," I heard myself echo her without meaning to. "Wh-what did he want? Are you going to go out with him again?" Why else wouldn't she want me to know? I dropped my hand from hers unintentionally and took a few steps back to lean against a conveniently located mailbox for support. It couldn't really be over this quickly, could it?

"No," she replied quickly, striding towards me and chucking aside what little was left of her ice-cream. "Definitely not. Nick, I'm with you." She wrapped herself firmly around one of my arms and leaned her head on my shoulder. I looked down at her form snuggled warmly against mine and suddenly felt foolish. I angled my head to plant a kiss on her hair.

"I'm sorry," I murmured softly. "I just-- I-- well, worst case scenarios are the easiest to spring to mind." I tugged my arm from her grasp and enveloped her in a real hug, our assortment of shopping bags briefly forgotten on the sidewalk at our feet. "So why didn't you want to tell me?"

"Well, he was…" she paused and took a deep breath as she tried to figure out the correct word, "…persistent. I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to get upset or macho and try to intimidate him."

"Persistent?" I repeated for clarification.

"Well, he phoned a few times." Sara replied hesitantly.

"He did?" I felt the monster of jealousy rearing its ugly head once more. "What did you tell him?" She caught my tone and took a step out of my embrace to study me.

"This is why I didn't want to tell you." She reached up to touch my face in a reassuring gesture. "You don't need to be upset or worried about this, okay? I'm handling it. Hank doesn't matter anymore; he never really did. I just needed him to make you get your act together."

I nodded and Sara picked up the bags I had dropped. She wrapped her free arm around my waist and continued walking, guiding me through the people on the street. I tried really hard to drop the subject but I couldn't. I don't think I lasted two minutes before asking: "How many times did he call?" Sara let out an expected sigh.

"I can't be sure because I took it off the hook to avoid them," she had gone into defensive mode. I wasn't going to be deterred.

"Fair enough… but how many times did he call that you know of? Surely it had to be a number of times to make you knock off the phone." I came up with that justification on the spot. It's a good one, eh?

Her response was stern: "It doesn't matter--"

"Humour me." I cut her off, which didn't appear to help my cause.

She untangled her arm from my body but we continued at pace. "I'm trying to, Nick, but you're being impossible. It's not really any of your business who called me, how many times, or why! This whole jealousy thing was cute at first, but it's getting old awfully quick!" I think she may have growled near the end; it was kind of sexy. Okay Nick, focus!

"Whoa! Why did he phone you so much?" I didn't even notice she had avoided that answer earlier. Okay, it was definitely a growl that time.

"So much? You don't even know how many times he phoned!" she sounded exasperated.

"Well, whose fault is that?" I shot back. She turned her head towards me to fix me with a withering glare but she couldn't hold it and quickly turned away again to hide her smile. She shook her head and replaced her arm around me.

"It's really bothering you, isn't it?" She leaned into me gently as I draped my arm around her shoulders.

"There's something about that guy…" Suspicion laced my words. "What kind of a name is Hank anyway?" I scoffed as I repeated the same childish line from my conversation with Warrick earlier that month.

"Fine. I'll tell you but then you have to drop it so we can return to the pleasant evening we'd been having up until ten minutes ago. Deal?" Sara looked up at me out of the corner of her eye, waiting for confirmation.

"Deal." I replied grudgingly. Worse comes to worse I can hassle her for more information after work tomorrow morning.

"Okay. Yes, he called an unnecessary number of times." I was about to interrupt to request something more quantitative but she held up the hand carrying our stuff to stop me before I started. I forgot she was carrying them. It wasn't very chivalrous of me, so I took our bags without interrupting. "How many? I'm not sure I wasn't counting, but you're right, enough to make me disconnect the phone.

"Now then, what he wanted? Simply put, he was looking for another date. At first when I politely told him that I wasn't interested anymore he was a little surprised and quickly got off the phone. I guess after a moment to digest the information he was curious and he called back for an explanation. I didn't want to tell him about you," again she held up a hand to stop the comment she knew I was about to make, "not because I'm hiding us or ashamed of you or anything silly like that but just because getting blown off is hard enough without knowing you've been so easily replaced… Anyway he accepted whatever excuse I gave him and hangs up. Then he phoned back. He wanted to double check the reason."

"What is this guy, some kind of masochist? How many times did he want to hear you say 'no'?" I started counting calls in my head. That was three.

"He seemed to think that I had been talking to someone and was trying to convince me not to listen to whatever they had said." Sara made a valiant attempt to defend him.

"See, you're lucky that I got in the way of you two because it looks like I was right," I said smugly. "There's something fishy there; that call sounds like a guilty conscience. Someone so worried about rumours, must have done something to deserve them…"

"Is that so, lady killer? Well Greg told me this great one about you the other week. Let's test your theory, shall we? He says that--" She looked gleeful.

"Okay. Okay. Point taken." I grumbled. "Just for the record, Warrick's a more reliable source ab--"

"Oh, I know," she interrupted. "So anyway, Hank hung up after I told him that no one else influenced my decision."

"Except me," I added proudly, puffing out my chest.

"I'll get there," she promised with a bemused smile. "Then he called back again, asking whether it was because of what happened at the diner. He apologized for that even though it wasn't his fault and he said he was sorry for waiting so long that I had to phone up to ask him out. Incidentally, he was out of town, which was why he didn't call. Anyway, that was when I admitted that I had met someone else; I had hoped that he would take that as proof it wasn't because of anything he had done and accept it."

"I take it he didn't?" That was four so far. "Man, he _is_ persistent." And pathetic.

"Yeah, the rest of the calls that I, or my machine, took were trying to persuade me to give him a second shot and that there was something special about me and that he thought we could really go the distance…"

I laughed and had to ask, "His words or yours?"

"His." She finally laughed a little at his expense. "Anyway, then I knocked the receiver off the hook and went to bed."

Now that I had heard the story I felt a lot more at ease. He was much too needy for Sara, and since she now knew that he wouldn't be competition. Still, it annoyed me that he had called so many times. "So that was, what? Seven, eight calls?"

"About. Now stop that," she referred to the grimace which crossed my face, "I told you what happened and now we're done with it. And I don't want you to do anything about it, okay? Nothing. Under no circumstances are you to speak to anyone else about this; especially Hank. Got it?" She wagged her finger sternly in my face.

"Got it." I considered it for a moment, "However, if the phone calls don't stop…"

"You'll be the first to know and you can do something stupid and macho to scare him off," she gave me a dazzling smile and I leaned down to seal the promise with a kiss.


	14. Fast forward a year

Just under a month later, after I believe around thirteen dates and two visits to the ER, Sara and my relationship took a massive step forward when I moved in with her after the Nigel Crane business. At first it was just going to be a couple days while my home was a crime scene. I think they had found twenty holes in my ceilings, and at least four tapes of me sleeping; once with Sara -- but it was just of us sleeping, the tiring activity before hand was thankfully omitted. They also found small pile of dirty clothes, which had been mine, which he had in the attic beside a stack of some of my personal documents. Anyway, I was way too creeped out to stay there after that so Sara and my living arrangement was extended to a couple of weeks while I searched for a new place. However, after a couple of weeks of living together, it just seemed so natural that I gave up the house-hunt as soon as she nervously suggested that we extend the arrangement indefinitely.

And I'm proud to say that that was barely over eleven months ago and I am currently just waiting for my wonderful girlfriend to return home from her case to surprise her with our one year anniversary dinner. This is a few days late to celebrate it, but on our actual anniversary we were both detained by an important case and ended up missing the reservations at the fancy restaurant that I had to book for three months in advance… So we've been looking for a night out for the last few days to make up for it, and since Gris and I finished up the Arnz case before Sara and Catherine could wrap up the Kamikaze Granny, I headed home early to prepare for tonight.

First I began Sara's favourite vegetarian dish -- which I have become quite good at, if I do say so myself -- and then quickly began to decorate the dining room. I used the best white table cloth and set the places with the fancy china, silver utensils and crystal wine glasses, you know, the whole works. I brought out the wine to chill in a bucket of ice and placed candles sporadically around the room, lighting a few to set their flowery fragrance in the air. I checked on the food again before I changed into some dressier, yet casual, clothes. And the finishing touch was sprinkling some rose pedals around our bedroom as well as a path from the front hall to the table. "Nick?" her voice floated down the hall as the front door swung open and closed.

"In here," I called while patting my pocket to make sure the ring was still in there and out of sight. It'll hopefully have a new home by the end of the night. Satisfied that it was hidden, I resumed my task of stirring the sauce. I kept my eyes on the pot of red paste while I strained my ears to listen to her approach. She entered the kitchen and immediately came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my stomach. She isn't quite tall enough to rest her head on my shoulder to see what I'm making, but her eyes were peering over just enough to catch a glimpse of it.

"What's all this?" a wondrous tone accompanied her words as she kissed my shoulder and then my neck.

I looked over my shoulder to give her hairline a quick kiss. "It's dinner. Happy anniversary, Sweetheart."

"Oh Nicky," she murmured, giving a squeeze of my middle.

"You go get changed into the dress that your wonderful boyfriend laid out on the bed for you, and by the time you get back dinner should be ready and on the table," I smiled at her lovingly. She nodded in compliance and walked out of the kitchen. As she passed by the dining room I heard an appreciative gasp.

"Wow, you really went all out." She called from the other room.

"Of course I did; it's our first anniversary... sort of…" I shouted back as I began to take the food out of the oven and I set the sauce to simmer. "A lot of time and effort went into this set-up tonight. So, if you don't like it… well, just pretend you do." I laughed out loud at my own little joke while silently hoping that it wouldn't become reality. I gave liberal portions on to each plate and brought them out to the table. Then I put on a little "mood music" and lit the rest of the candles.

It wasn't long before Sara returned; she looked absolutely stunning in the little red number I had set out for her, with her hair freshly pulled back and some fresh attention to her make up. "You look beautiful," I replied as I met her halfway across the room for a more attentive greeting than before, since now I didn't have any food to take care of. After a few minutes of sweet, slow kisses -- her favourite kind… okay, lately, mine too -- we made our way to the table to begin our meal.

"So did you finish off your case?" I asked as I broke some food apart with my fork. Hopefully she had or I may not have her fun attention tonight.

She quirked a dangerous eyebrow at me, "You really want to talk about work?"

"No; I just wanted to know whether you have to get up to go into work early tomorrow to wrap up the case or whether you can stay up late…" I attempted a seductive tone and ended with a suggestive wink.

"Oh," she giggled lightly. "Then yes, we did wrap it up, so we can stay up as late as you can handle."

"Careful Sidle, that sounds like a challenge," I warned.

"Maybe it is," she smiled at me and I grinned back at the implications. I reached across the small table and covered a hand she had resting on the table with my own. We sat there grinning stupidly at each other in silence for a few minutes. These are my favourite moments with Sara: when we're doing nothing but it's spectacular, when the rest of the world melts away and leaves us alone, when I know that this is exactly where I belong, where I'm supposed to be, because I don't want to be anywhere else.

"I love you," I whisper softly. It's not the first declaration, we did that shortly after I moved in with her, but we decided that we wouldn't overdo it. Sara thought that we should reserve the words for special occasions because we both know how we feel whether or not it's stated everyday and this way the words are extra important when they're said. I think it might also have something to do with the fact that she's not used to expressing such strong feelings so freely… Doesn't really matter though. I don't care how often it's said so long as it is said and reciprocated.

"I love you too," she whispers back and I can feel my heart soar. It gets me every time. She leans forwards slightly, indicating that she wants another kiss. And really, who am I to deny her? After a few moments, we return to our meals.


	15. Puhtaytoe, Potahtoe

I've taken one bite when she speaks up again, "I saw Hank today." There's a semi-forced casualness in her voice, not because he still means something to her, but because she's afraid the encounter might still mean something to me. Which, in all honesty, it still does a bit. It wasn't until after I had moved in with Sara that his phone calls had stopped completely, despite the knowledge that we were dating. I guess he took it more seriously after I answered her phone twice when he called; at first, he had just assumed both times that he had dialled wrong and phoned back. When I saw his number on the display when the phone rang for the third time, I let the machine pick it up: "Hi, you've reached the Sidle/Stokes residence," my voice had proudly announced, "We're not home right now, but leave a message and we'll get back to you ASAP." He didn't leave a message. Since then, apart from the occasional case, Sara didn't hear anymore from him.

What this topic calls for is a joke, so that it isn't so serious. "Hmm, should I be worried that Hank is the first thing that you think of after we declare our feelings for one another?" I give a cheesy smile to let her know I'm kidding, and it works.

She giggles appreciatively as she continues, "Don't worry, _I _wouldn't chase more than one person at a time, and you're it for me."

At first I smile, focusing on the last bit. Then I realize the way she had emphasized "I" was probably insinuating something. "Whoa," I forced my eyes to hers and grabbed her hand back. "You're it for me too," I spoke with finality to show that I wasn't just talking about this moment. "I may have been a bit of a playboy in my younger years, but I've never been unfaithful to anyone and I would never, ever do that to you." She started to interrupt me but I held up a hand to stop her. If she still has doubts about my commitment after this long, then it definitely was time to show her how serious I am about this. "Sara, I love you more than anyone or anything else in the world. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I don't know what I did to deserve you. But I promise that if you let me, I'll spent the rest of my life trying to be worthy of you." As I watched her eyes begin to tear up, my own vision began blurring. "When I say 'you're it for me', I mean you are _it_ for me. The matching jogging suit, white picket fence, 'til death do us part kind of it. I want to grow old with you. I want to start a family with you. I want matching gold bands on our ring fingers so that everybody -- family, friends, and strangers -- knows that we're together." She turned towards me in her chair as I ungracefully got off my seat. I bent on one knee beside her without relinquishing her hand. "Sara Sidle, I want you. Forever." I reached into my pocket and pulled out the box, opening it with one hand to display the diamond ring within. "Please, make me the luckiest man on the planet. Marry me?" Once again my voice betrayed me. I meant for the last bit to be more of a statement to show that I'm sure that this is the right thing to do. Also, it cracked with emotion somewhere in the middle.

I watched Sara carefully as she opened her mouth twice to respond but didn't speak. The second time was the closest, when a tiny squeak finally emerged. I think the worried expression that took over my face made her realize that she couldn't wait for her voice to reappear before letting me know the answer. Instead she nodded and clambered down from her chair and moulded her body right against mine on her knees and gave me the sweetest kiss of my life. I pulled back after a moment, wiped the tear tracks off her cheeks and those forming away from her eyes as she did the same for me. Then I gently slid the engagement ring onto her finger. She admired the way the diamond caught the light for a moment before placing her hands on either side of my face and pulling me back into the kiss.

The second time we broke apart words were actually exchanged. "You know," Sara sniffed slightly, still trying to control her watery eyes, "I didn't mean you were unfaithful… I meant Hank."

I laughed, "See, now that's the second time you've brought him up right after I confess my undying love for you." My knees were starting to hurt so I stood up and pulled her with me and resumed our tight embrace.

Sara giggled as she continued with her explanation. "He and his fiancé were in that restaurant the Grandma crashed into, so I had to interview them and learned a few things along the way. First, they've been together, no breaks, for two and a half years… which yes, if you're keeping track, overlaps the period of time he was after me. In fact, that three week waiting period between meeting him and the severed finger lunch, he was on vacation with her in Hawaii."

"That explains why he was so worried about rumours you may have heard… See, I was right. Guilty conscious. You're lucky I came along to rescue you." I smiled and kissed her hairline, subtly trying to turn her attention back to me. It'd suit me fine if I never heard medic-man's name again.

Sara began laughing uncontrollably, and pulled back to face me. "You mean I'm lucky that you finally pulled your head out of your ass and made a move."

"Puh-tay-toe, Po-tah-toe." I replied grinning. "And watch the language would you? You're ruining the moment." She untangled her left hand from m waist and hit my right shoulder playfully. As she rested it there, the sparkling ring caught her attention once more and her face visibly softened. "Yeah, that's right, focus on the moment. We're engaged now." I beamed proudly at her and puffed out my chest slightly. "So what do you say we stop talking about Hank and get back to what we were doing before."

"Okay," she gave me a chaste kiss on the lips before adding, "For now."

I quirked an eyebrow, "I was thinking forever." I kissed her again to emphasize my point.

"Are you kidding me? 'Hank' is going to be my new secret weapon. Apparently whenever I need you to get off you ass and make a move, all I have to do is talk about him."

"Ha, very cute. Now can we stop talking about him?" I leaned in for a lingering kiss.

"Him who? Hank?" She replied through a coy smile.

"Yes." I kissed across her jaw. "I'm about to do some of my best work and I don't want you to miss it." I bent lower and kissed my way down her neck.

She moaned slightly and allowed better access, "What about dinner?" I could tell from her tone that she could care less about it right now.

"That's your own fault; you said his name again, I have no choice but to make my move." Her laughter vibrated against my lips nicely.

"I guess if you _have_ to…" That would have been more convincing if her voice weren't so husky at the time.

I smirked as I nipped at her collar bone. "Besides, this is why we bought that new microwave. I think we take this to the bedroom now. What do you say future-Mrs. Stokes?" Sara Stokes. I like it.

"I say…" she suddenly pushed me away so I was a little off balance and started off down the hall. "I'll race you!" she shouted over her shoulder as I took off after her.

The End.

* * *

A/N: Thanks again for reading. Hope you liked it. If you have time, let me know; even if you hated it... 


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